that cnn report revealed mark robinson's pro-hitler comments on a site as well as this disturbing anecdote. "robinson graphically described his own sexual arousal as an adult from the memory of secretly peeping on women in public gym showers as a 14-year- old. robinson recounted the story as a memory he said he still fantasized about." >> there were also extremely graphic descriptions of an alleged affair with his wife's sister. today, mark robinson hit the campaign trail in north carolina. he has denied the report and threatened to sue cnn. today the republican governors association announced that it would no longer spend money on advertisements to elect mark robinson. this follows yesterday's reporting that four top campaign staffers had stepped down. and as we found out donald trump has yet to rescind his tr endorsement of the man he called "martin luther king on steroids." on saturday trump's running mate jd vance said that he is not even sure that he believes the allegations against mark robinson. >> the allegations are pretty far out there of course and r whether they are reality. to

here's rachel scott. >> mark robinson! >> reporter: tonight, the republican nominee for governor in the crucial presidential battleground of north carolina is vowing to stay in the race after an explosive cnn report thmade a series of racist and inflammatory online posts, including one where he called himself a, quote, black nazi. abc news has not independently confirmed the reporting. cnn says robinson made the comments between 2008 and 2012 on a pornographic website called nude africa. according to cnn, robinson also posted comments saying slavery is not bad, adding he wished it would come back. before cnn published its story, robinson posting this video denying it all. >> let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson. >> reporter: north carolina a key battleground in the presidential election. polls have vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump neck and neck. robinson even getting a coveted speaking spot at this summer's republican nationa

the next governor of north carolina, mark robinson. thanks, mark. >> we know them, we know mark very well. amazing, amazing, amazing guy, but you know mark is a wonderful person, wonderful guy. a person i have gotten to know very well and i think that only are we going to win the state, i think he's going to win the state. >> now it seems as donald trump might be trying to distance himself according to the carolina journal. robinson is under pressure from staff and members of the trump campaign to withdraw from the governor's race and earlier leaders of the trump campaign told robinson he was not welcome and rallies for trump or j.d. vance. he was slated to speak on wednesday, but his office announced robinson had tested positive for covid. robinson is pretty far down the polls, while the top of the ticket is locked in a tie and to be clear the deadline to withdraw is today. he has less than four hours as of now. the candidate can pull out of the race until absentee ballots start to go out for overseas servicemembers. those go out tomor

the next governor of north carolina, mark robinson. thanks. >> we know them well. we know marc very well. amazing, amazing guy. mark is a wonderful person, a wonderful guy. a person i've gotten to know very well. i think not only will we went to the state but he will win. >> now it seems trump may be trying to distance himself according to the chair carolina journal, robinson is under pressure from strobe -- to withdraw from the governor's race and leaders in the trump campaign privately told robinson he was not welcome at rallies for trump or j.d. vance. he was slated to speak at the vance appearance on wednesday but his office announced that robertson had tested positive for covid. now robinson is pretty far down the polls will the top of the ticket is locked in a tie-in to be clear, the deadline for robertson to withdraw is today. he has less of four hours as of now. state law said he candidate can pull out up until the day before absentee ballots go out for overseas service members and they go out tomorrow. robinson's name is already on the. according to robinso

governor mark robinson, real star, great guy, friend of mine, mark robinson i mean, scott, obviously that's more than just an endorsement that's going above and beyond to praise him. so as, as a republican does he need to distance himself from mark robinson on saturday? >> i don't know what he will do. i wouldn't predict it. my advice to him would be do whatever is best for you because right now now the highest and most fervent view of most republicans in his country is hit donald trump be returned to the white house, and he has to run the campaign and he needs to run to get that done. i love all these other races and everything else downballot. but for donald trump and for his campaign high command, if i were in their shoes, i would do only what was best for donald trump in order to win one? of the three most important state it's pennsylvania, north carolina, and georgia and whatever they deem is in their best interests. that's exactly what they ought to do congressman ro khanna, democrat here, you're seeing the harris campaign responding to this report, which had a lot of anticipat

he and mark robinson was not there. do you think that's going to be effective for the harris campaign in persuading getting potentially new voters to come her way of course it will because of course donald trump has yet to criticize robinson even after all the horrible things that andrew kaczynski uncovered and all the horrible things that we knew about even before educa scan covered them. >> look, let me just say this because this is so reminiscent of what happened to the trump orbit back in 2020 all of a sudden mark robinson looks like he is not going to win his staff on mass decides they're going to resign not because they're offended by what he said. because let's be very clear, he has said incredibly offensive things before shermichael pointed out, but because now it looks like they don't want to lost they don't want a big l on their record. this is so similar to what happened in 2020 where trump's staff stayed with him and stayed wafter all of the comments that he made throughout his presidency, and only after he

i also think they need to continue to connect donald trump to mark robinson. it is unacceptable for the republican party not to completely condemned these comments that he has made before and that he is being accused of making. now, on this site ashley allison, abby phillip burnett. >> thanks so much, abby. it's going to be baffled newsnight, of course, at 10:00 tonight, coming up with a new rule, push by allies of the former president, make vote results in georgia more chaotic. even some republicans think so if it's allowed to stand on the stage former lieutenant governor joins us. next, also, vice president harris in wisconsin tonight and save vital to her blue wall strategy. that state's democratic senator tammy baldwin she joins us next i voted buttons. >> i drag every little kid. >> why no donkeys or elephants stamps even ella thing. so boy, it's like your generation has evolved past political symbols. and there's room for everyone, kind of like my podcast on cnn, plus puke rainbows, white taken the ups store is more than just the shipping store where the

you're in credible lieutenant governor mark robinson is hot politician lieutenant governor mark robinson, real star, great guy friend of mine, mark robinson okay. >> i just didn't want to leave any ambiguity out there the harris campaign tonight is wasting no time highlighting that relationship posting these images with a thumbs up emoji now robinson is really crucial in the presidential race because he is running to be governor in north carolina. and trump's road to the white house runs through north carolina. that is why this is a major issue. it is why the campaign cannot be happy with what he is telling our andrew kaczynski of kfile this is not off. these are not our words and this is not anything is characteristic of me nor has it ever has it ever been the people here of north carolina? know i have been completely transparent about my history. all the wards and we put them all out. we let folks know about it. but the folks here also know my character. they know who i am, they know my voice, so to speak this is not my voice is not things that we would ever say or even think how do yo

i've gotten to know him, and he's outstanding. >> donald trump and mark robinson.hey're both wrong for north carolina. >> reporter: donald trump's advisers say that winning north carolina is critical to their chances of taking back the white house in november. sources tell me that the campaign is trying to put some distance between themselves and mark robinson. robinson is not expected to attend donald trump's rally in the state tomorrow, but still the former president showing no

this is not good for donald trump trump or mark robinson before america. this is awful that we have this type of person that is hypocritical and so hateful and leadership and that is seeking such a high office in the state erin, i mean, center until us this statement which again says robinson should take legal action if the reporting is false or take accountability. >> i'm not sure we're taking accountability would would mean because i mean, he's on the ballot the deadline has passed for forgetting somebody else what would that look like? >> and do you think trump should address this or do you think it will do the i don't know this person i anticipate trump will do the i don't know this person, but it's already clear in polling that north carolinians were already separating donald trump from mark robinson because mark robinson was polling so far behind donald trump. >> at this point. so i understand the strategy of kamala harris and her campaign putting out an ad to try to tie the tumor that them together more we're closely, but trump was already well ahea

and the question is now, where does mark robinson go from here the deadline to drop out has passed. there are down-ballot implications in north carolina, but there's also possible up ballot ramifications here because so far donald trump has yet to comment on mark robinson, he previously endorsed him i presidential race is just so so close that any bit of margin could have an impact. there yeah, it's interesting that donald trump didn't mention him in his recent rally, didn't have him on stage, but he's also not disavowing them either. >> you asked robinson about the possibility of staffers quitting last week. what did he say? >> well, yeah, that's right. and our story, which we published on thursday, we interviewed robinson ahead of it. what was interesting is before our story published, new started to leak that we even were reporting a story now that didn't come from rn at cnn, we didn't tell anybody so that was coming from robin sins orbit and we started to hear rumors. i definitely did from sources as well, that campaign staff on his campaign had resigned. i put that question to

he denied it all today. >> those are not the words of mark robinson. you know my words. you know my character. and you know that i have been completely transparent in this race and before. >> reporter: but robinson canceled scheduled campaign appearances today and didn't show up wednesday at a rally for g.o.p. vice presidential candidate j.d. vance. former president donald trump has praised robinson on the campaign trail. >> i think you are better than martin luther king. i think you are martin luther king times two. >> reporter: robinson was given a national platform by speaking at the republican convention, where we caught up with him. lieutenant governor, ed o'keefe at cbs news, how are you, sir? >> we got to run. >> reporter: how is your race? >> it's going fantastic. it's going fantastic, yes, sir. >> reporter: recent polls show him trailing democratic candidate josh stein. who said what north carolinians already know, mark robinson is completely unfit to be governor. ballots are printed but state candidates have until midnight tonight to drop out of any race. if rob

i asked him straight up about mark robinson and how they feel like it impacts their ability to win. mark is right. they did seem to feel like they were in a good place. what was interesting is they tied him directly to trump. this is a trump candidate, someone who at the end of the day believes a lot of the things that trump believes. as you can imagine, the martin luther king/trump thing is going to be cut into ads over and over and run into north carolina. >> and interesting enough, according to this cnn reporting, mark robinson said terrible things about martin luther king in the past. anyway, the north carolina republican party is standing by their guy, putting out a statement last night supporting robinson saying in part, quote, mark robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by cnn, but that won't stop the left trying to demonize him via personal attacks. we know robinson is no stranger to controversial comments or bad news cycles. he has said so many things that have left him in a bad spotlight in the past, including these kinds of comments. >> take a look at the s

mark robinson after cnn revealed but robinson called himself a quote, black nazi and made a host of other rather disturbing comments on a porn website forum. more than a decade ago, vice president kamala harris's campaign is hoping that that scandal helps her eke out a wind win in north carolina, which democrats have only done on the presidential level once in the last 44 years, the harris campaign is highlighting trump's past effusively praise for lieutenant governor robinson as she tries to lean into attacks on trump's anti-abortion stance hypocrites want to start talking about this, isn't the best interest of women and children taking care of the women and children of america trump trying to counter those attacks yesterday, he argued that women are poorer, less healthy, and more depressed and unhappy than they were four years ago. joining me now is michigan governor gretchen whitmer, who campaigned with harris this week. she's also the author of a new book, true gretch, what i've learned about life, leadership and everything in-between, we've interviewed her about that book before. it'

that's why donald trump loses the elections but the mark robinson's of the world in j.d. vance's of the world will be elected. you had a piece in the atlantic about this. when it comes to north carolina, robinson is the setting lieutenant governor was at a number the things that came out in the online sites, were things that were known about him which is why people that i talked to, he said the crazy things pick people i talked to on the ground say is crazy is baked in. people voted for him anyway the last time is lieutenant governor. i don't know what effect -- i think the effect of the campaign staff leaving, that to me, real republicans who wanted to work for a potential republican governor, that can make a difference to some republican voters but let's be clear. they didn't leave because of the anti-semitism. they left because of the pornography site. a man who is disparaging trans kids and people but apparently likes to indulge in the watching of it in his private time, hypocrite. >> one of the thing that might affect trump would be if they had an antiabortion would m

served and mark robinson is no dr. martin luther king jr.. he is the antithesis of everything that dr. king represented. he -- he is white supremacy in black face. as he talks about his desire to bring slavery back and i mean this talk is way beyond the pale. calling himself a black nazi. these are his words. and i think that the people of north carolina need to take note of the fact that this is donald trump's candidate. this is who he keeps pushing and encouraging. this is who he thinks should represent them. but donald trump has a long history of this. he tried to in -- this in my race. this is not the first time he has put forward a black candidate who is unfit and unqualified to serve with the cynical notion that somehow the electorate will be confused about who this person represents. the people of north carolina deserve better. they've got real issues that they're trying to address. and they're going to see through mark robinson in the same way that the people of georgia saw through my opponent. >> the last time i spent some time with

that mark robinson, that survive this. but the idea that this type of article comes up, really suggests that he think it is constituents of north carolina can be duped. can be suckered. told that in fact everything in front of them is not real. that it is generated by ai and they shouldn't believe the compelling evidence of the grotesque statements of behavior. that is just the reality we live in these days. in trump era politics you can just plow forward. >> i think maybe the most appalling part of it, his calculation might be right. the north carolina republican party is standing by mark robinson, a man you pointed out is eight points behind in this race. i'm not saying it would be understandable if he was neck in neck. but the fact they have ever reason to get this man out of the race and are choosing not to tells you as much about the north carolina party as it tells you about mark robinson. do you think any of this is down to donald trump who is a mark robinson ally. he thinks mark robinson is better than martin luthe

the former president has said things like this he's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, mark robinson. >> this is martin luther king on steroids. >> i think you're better than martin luther king. i think you are martin luther king times two noted, once distance between him in a robinson, but harris, as you noted, is already using that as part of her ads what goes into the calculus over how much trump is going to say, like how is that decision ultimately made? the problem with trying to come up with a calculus for what trump is going to say is that trump often does then goes out and says whatever he wants or said something different. we're post at 1:00 a.m. on truth, social, and so the plans can get up ended by the candidate. what his advisers would like him to do is to put, again, put more distance between himself and ron robinson. there are some people who thought that trump needs to publicly disavow robinson. and i think that's what we are watching for to see if he does anything like that tomorrow. saying something like i hardly know the guy we have heard him say that about dozens a

and we traced them directly to mark robinson. we did interview robinson today and he categorically denies making those posts. i'll get to that in one moment. but first, i want to want walk people through just a few of them. take a look at one right here in this post, robinson called himself a quote black nazi. and when discussing then president barak obama in 2012, reading quote, i take a hitler over any of this. that's in washington, right now. it even goes beyond that wolf, another sure disturbing post from robinson defended slavery, writing quote, slavery is not bad. and i wish they would bring slavery back. i would certainly buy a few all of these comments and many others that you can read on cnn.com were made on the message board of a porn website called nude africa. and wolf. in addition, chin to those posts, he also expressed views on nude africa that sharply contradict policies he has as a socially conservative candidate for governor, for example, he has been vocally anti-transgender, but look at what robinson wrote on the

] but of course, the winner of this week's "shitty men competition" has to be north carolina's mark robinsonor and horny carl winslow. last week, it was reported that robinson spent years posting on the porn website nudeafrica.com. yeah. he called himself a black nazi and wished he could buy slaves. he talked about his love for trans porn even though in public he denounces trans people. and he allegedly wrote detailed fantasies about his wife's sister that are so explicit, i only feel comfortable reading them to you if i replace all the nasty words with the word "smurf." so here we go: okay. here it is. "right when i was really pumping the smurf chute good, she shot a long hot stream of smurf up in the air that covered my chest and smurf! it was so smurfing hot! she was smurfin', i was smurfin', she was smurfing, and i was covered in smurf, and smurf juice and smurf. damn." there goes my childhood. now, normally, if even one of these things were reported about you, you'd probably lay low for a while, but mark robinson is not a normal person. >> new this morning, republican mark robinson fier

scandal involving the states republican nominee for governor, the current lieutenant governor mark robinson, is adding a new dimension to the race. this new cnn kfile investigation uncovered dozens of inflammatory posts that robinson wrote on a porn site message board over a decade ago. some of the messages include robinson calling himself, quote, a black nazi. other posts praised slavery or ridiculed martin luther king junior as a quote, commie faster the end quote. when confronted with the evidence of his writings robinson denied any responsibility how do you explain all of the matching details on this profile? >> the profile on nude africa lists your full name as mark robinson via email listed on the account is an email that you used us. you have used elsewhere on the internet, including with your photo. you have used that name many soldier on multiple social media accounts, including twitter, pinterest, black planet, and youtube. how can you deny with all of these matching details that this is you? >> look, i'm not going to get into the minutia of house on my manufacturer this all these

versus the prior 24 hours nationally searches for mark robinson up 8,540%. my goodness, gracious. how about in the great state of north carolina up by more? then 4,000%, despite the fact that they were googling him plenty before the bottom line is a lot of interest in this story that break down the state of politics right now in the great state of north carolina, how could this single scandal impact not just the gubernatorial race, but perhaps even the presidential race. there yeah, you know, if you look at where the poles we're heading into this right in the presidential race, my goodness, gracious. how tight it was. it was tied. i think it was like 0.2 percentage points. if you didn't round it. but the bottom line is tied between kamala harris and donald trump. and the governor's race. look, the democrat josh stein was well ahead of mark robinson, up by ten points. i think he's going to be leading by even more for after this particular thing, it's the real question of how much this may impact the presidential race and how important is the great state of no

>> let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson. you know my words. you know my character, and you know that i have been completely transparent in this race and before. >> reporter: no stranger to polarizing comments, robinson has come under scrutiny in the past for calling the holocaust hogwash, which he later said was a poorly worded remark that wasn't antisemitic. >> come november, i plan on being the first black governor of north carolina. >> reporter: he's a social conservative who has been endorsed by former president trump. >> this is martin luther king on steroids, okay. >> reporter: north carolina a battleground state in the presidential race, but a tough one for democrats who haven't won it since 2008. >> and laura, the trump campaign weighing in here tonight? >> yes, lester, the trump campaign saying he is focused on winning north carolina. meanwhile, if robinson were to get out of this race, he only has

trump obviously mark donald trump has long praised mark robinson. he's probably the reason why he is why mark rutte i'm anderson, is the republican nominee for governor in that state in the first place. so you see the harris campaign really trying to take advantage of that. and what you hear republicans saying is that this has him being on the ballot and this whole controversy has the potential to flip north carolina to the democrats, which if kamala harris when's north carolina, it's pretty much all over. donald trump loses the election. >> it's very hard for him to get to to 70 if he doesn't have north carolina and it's interesting, you mentioned that trump endorsed robinson and is a big part of why he's there because thom tillis, of course, the republican senator from north carolina, who won that senate seat from democrat, right? because it's not as though north carolina hasn't recently sent democrats to the state statewide office at the federal level he was, he endorsed robinson, opponent right? >> he endorsed robinson since opponent in the prima

why hasn't trump pulled his endorsement of mark robinson? i mean, i guess you could ask the same question about doug mastriano, right? >> i mean, it's just something that the former president, it doesn't typically do. jim and i don't expect him to do it in this case either, but you heard from kristen and you're previous segment before the commercial break that aides and advisers to the former president have been concerned about robinson for a long time. i've talked with a few folks in north carolina to sort of get an understanding of the lay of the field there. and from what i've been told, people in the state party were worried about robinson for months now, and many of them wanted the party to back mark walker, the former congressman and pastor, who they believed would have been a far more permissible, formidable opponent to the democrat, potentially even winning the seat may be right? and instead, the party decided to go robinson because he had the support of the sort of populist base with republican voters there. the former president obv

he cannot go into the state and appear with mark robinson anymore. fee goes into the state he's going to be asked while he was so effusive of his praise of this guy. did they not vet him. of course if you're in north carolina with introspection you'll say is this the ticket, are these the elected officials i want to elevate? i don't know it's going to have a huge impact on donald trump but keep in mind this is the state harris' people have continuously said is their kind of, you know, main prize for flipping, more so almost than georgia. so this is already bound to be a very close state, and this does not help in the slightest for trump. >> yeah, it's such a good point. i mean it makes north carolina like a sort of kryptonite for trump because if he goes there he's going to have to talk literally about the website nude africa and black nazism. it's like the words roll-off your tongue and it's hard to believe it. >> it's hard to understand what you're saying. >> just to be clear not my words, mark robinson's alleged words. i've got to ask -- put on yo

mark robinson made on a porn website more than a decade ago. donald trump has praised robinson in the past, which of course kamala harris's campaign was quick to hide? i like robinson now facing mounting pressure to drop out of the race should ever republican in the country be held responsible for this guy, i would say no is him not me? >> it's not trump, it's great news for the democrats i mean robinson is actually, he's the new dream candidate to run against. and this is the problem for us republicans. as long as donald trump is you recruiting agent? four candidates in swing states. we're going to continue to get our rear ends handed to us joining me now to discuss the latest in this battleground state former south carolina state rep. >> and cnn political commentator bakari sellers. bakari, good morning. wonderful to have you. look. you have been you and i we've been talking about this race in north carolina. well before what our kfile reported and you have been insistent that there's no way there could be such a gap in the gubernatorial race

about mark robinson, this wasn't just predictable. this was predicted.king to smart republicans in north carolina just yesterday, they asked two questions right now, have we seen everything? remember madison cawthorn a couple of years ago? this thing took not just days and weeks. this could marinate and we could be dealing with this for a while now and how will this impact donald trump. republicans will vote for donald trump and democrats for kamala harris. there are 440,000 new unaffiliated voters in north carolina since to 20. and one thing to keep an eye on that you may not think about north carolina, there are more hbcu understood grads in the state of north carolina than any other state in the country. >> amy, what about that? what about what peter said about the unaffiliated voters who are up for grabs right now? >> you look at north carolina with 74,000 votes and the difference between 2020 with the biden winning and biden losing. i don't know. i'm always skeptical, but there is reverse coattails, in other words, that the bottom of the ticket impa

in one message, verified by cnn, mark robinson wrote, slavery is not bad. people need to be slaves. i wish they would bring it back. i would certainly buy a few. cnn also reports many of robinson's comments were gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature. he reportedly describes himself as a quote, perv, and describes peeping on women in public showers -- jim showers. the comments, which robinson denies making, were made under a username that cnn was able to identify as robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and the shared email address between the two. ahead of the story breaking today, robinson posted a video denying the allegations and accusing the campaign of josh stein, his opponent in the race for north carolina's governor, of leaking the story. >> let me reassure you the things you will see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson. you know my words. you know my character and you know that i have been completely transparent in this race than before. clarence thomas once claimed he was the victim of high-tech lynching. it loo

he cannot go into the estate and appear with mark robinson anymore.oing to be asked why he was so effusive in his praise of this guy, did they not that in? if you are a republican in with any sort of sanity and introspection, he will say is this really the ticket of republicans that i want? are these the elected officials i want to elevate? so, i don't know if it is going to have a huge impact on donald trump, but keep in mind, this is the state that harasses people at continuously said, it's the kind of main prize for clipping, more so almost in georgia. this is already bound to be a very close state and this does not help in the slightest for trump. >> yeah, really good point, it makes alanna sarabia kryptonite for trump, because if he goes there, he is going to have to talk about the site nude africa . >> just to be clear, not my words, mark robinson's alleged words. sam, i forgot to ask you, put on your sherlock holmes hat for a moment. the timing on all of this is very interesting, is it not? i mean, this is the deadline for mark robinson to stay

the question is will mark robinson drop out? does he have to drop out? i reminded him roy moore didn't drop out, accused of sexual assault. >> and almost became senator. >> lost to doug jones. say he stays in the race. this is a guy, i mean, all of this information was out there. it's easy to uncover. you do a background check on a candidate to see if you want them to run for office. what's the deal with the staffers deciding to walk out now? do you have any idea? >> i don't have any idea why these revelations were any worse than previous revelations, which were pretty bad. there was an 11:59 p.m. deadline. short of death he's going to be on the ballot as the republican nominee, so there's nothing that can be done about that for the party. you know, i think the question is how does trump and his campaign decide to handle robinson who's very outspoken, and, look, when you're the gubernatorial nominee, even a nominee for senate, let alone, a member of the house of representative, running for the house. and so, it muddles the message for trump in north caro

so we have now seen the harris campaign releasing this ad tying trump to mark robinson but when you look at polling, robinson was already lagging behind his democratic challenger and it is still an incredibly tight race when it comes to that presidential race. they are in north carolina. do you think that's actually going to have an effect to benefit the harris campaign. there absolutely we know that donald trump has fully embraced mark robinson's agenda, wanting to see a total ban in the state of north carolina. >> and one is just as dangerous as the other folks down the ballot this year going to receipt we're going to see that every single republican that's been endorsed by donald trump and by mark robinson is only going to be rubber stamps for their administration if they were to be elected. and we know across the ballot this year in north carolina that folks are getting out to stand up for reproductive freedom and making sure that we're getting democrats elected everywhere so trump has won north carolina in the last two times that he has run. what makes you think it would be any diff

his name is mark robinson. he is in the news because he once reportedly called himself a nazi and praised "mein kampf" as a good read. both of these remarks made as as comment on a pornography site more than a decade ago. he denies making either of these remarks. because of who josh stein is running against, democrats are a little more optimistic than they might otherwise be about their chances this year even if they might be a little more freaked out than usual about the stakes of what happens if they potentially lose this race. the chair of the democratic party in north carolina says that the democrats are not ceding any ground this year. they're actively campaigning, especially in rural areas that have sometimes in the past been written off as red-leaning. this year they say they'll find every single vote in the most rural parts of the state. they're not letting republicans run uncontested in state legislative races. they're not letting any corner state be ceded as red territory. north carolina democrats pla

uncovering these wild and disturbing posts on the porn site made by north carolina lieutenant governor mark robinson back before he was in politics, the harris campaign, seizing on it post after post on social media today from kamala hq showing trump and robinson together one after the other quotes of donald trump saying that mark robinson is martin luther king on steroids and over and over again, we should note the trump campaign. put out a statement, basically saying we're competing for north carolina, the same. it doesn't even mention lieutenant governor mark robinson, their gubernatorial candidate and they're going to be there on saturday. >> so what happens then? do they bring him still on stage so they going to have him sitting at the rally who say, well, but, you know, again, if he's, if his goal is simply to win over white men and build that base even more than he already has. that maybe he doesn't care to him disavowal mark robinson. i don't see how you get by without doing that but again, part of me doesn't really believe that donald trump wants to win. i don't think he wants to win. i thi

trump's orbit had actually been preparing and had heard rumblings about a controversial story about mark robinson prior to that, kfile reporting dropping today. now, i've been told that they had not donald trump's campaign it had not invited robinson to a rally that is scheduled for this saturday in wilmington, north carolina. and now they are saying that that decision is expected to hold, but of course very notable that donald trump is going to be in the state just days after this bombshell reporting from our own andrew kaczynski. now, i've also been told that many people within it donald trump's campaign and those close to the former president has long had reservations about robinsons gubernatorial candidate, particularly because this isn't the first time that he has made very controversial and pretty damaging remarks. remember, he has previously mocked victims of school shootings. he has been very demeaning to the civil rights rights movement. there's a lot of other examples i can point you to, but that has already led to a lot of unease within trump's orbit, but that hasn't stopped. i should

. >> are you comfortable with mark robinson as republican governor of north carolina. >> the allegations are out there, but the allegations aren't necessarily reality and what i say it's up to mark robinson and north carolina whether he wants to be governor and whether he wants to stay in the race. >> do you believe they're not

mark robinson. the things they are saying are beyond horrible. and if they are true he does not deserve the seat. if they're not, he has a huge lawsuit on his hands. >> none have said, this is wrong, there's no place for bigotry, anti semitism, sexism, or any flirtation with naziism with anyone in our party. none of them have said that. because they can't say that because if they say that about mark robinson then they have to say that about donald trump and j.d. vance. if they speak against the racism that mark robinson has expressed then they have to speak out against trump and vance. we had to bring out the big table. simone sanders-townsend host of the weekend right here on msnbc. okay. a lot happening. i just gave my take on the mark robinson news. mark, you never hold back. what does all of that tell you right now about the state of the republican party. >> here's the thing. donald trump has introduced an ethic to hear. you deny, you attack the media, you claim it's all made up. and then you never apologize. you never show any kind of courag

the latest is the republican candidate for governor in north carolina, mark robinson. the campaign is now grappling with the impact of robinson's black nazi porn scandal, which could hurt trump in a key swing state those graphic posts suddenly have vanished from the nude africa, a porn-site yes, those are real words i just said robinson hasn't yet been invited to trump's north carolina rally. that's scheduled for tomorrow but he is hardly the only character with recent guest appearances on the trump show there's 911 conspiracy theorist laura ridde whisper corey lewandowsky, and the conspiracist in chief, rfk jr. joining us in our fifth seat is kierna mayo, a cultural commentator and executive editor of one world this is crazy that i have to say but black nazi nude porn scandal on tv, but that's real life like this is where we're at and trump. first of all, he attracts these people around him, but then never seems willing to say get away from me. i don't want to be associated with you birds of a feather. >> i mean, this is just magnetism drawn to one another because we

let me begin with you, the republican candidate mark robinson says he is staying in. a lot of republicans in that state were wishing otherwise. >> well, this is the trump approach to this stuff, right, george. you know, robinson is emulating what he believes donald trump would do, which is say, hell, i'm not getting out. despite all of the problems that his candidacy is creating and here's the other thing, this was predictable. >> yes. >> this was predictable. mark robinson's tenure in public life has shown erratic, sometimes highly offensive statements over and over again. and donald trump supported him. and endorsed him. in fact, called him better than martin luther king. martin luther king jr. on steroids >> that's right. >> so, this was predictable, and this is the problem for us republicans. as long as donald trump is your recruiting agent for candidates in swing states, we're going to continue to get our rear ends handed to us. and mark robinson is not going to win this race. can't win this race. >> he's about 10, 12 points behind. >> and running against, by the